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With his second album, Fondo (the Road), Vieux Farka Touré, stepped confidently into the international spotlight, with an album that featured everything from gorgeously haunting African blues to scorching, guitar based rockers and African Reggae. Now the tracks on Fondo have been remixed by some of electronica's finest, and the resulting project, Other Roads: Fondo Remixed charts a new course in "Future Afro" sounds. Remixers include Bigga Bush, Bluetech, Yossi Fine, Tamir Muskat (of Balkan Beat Box), Brownout, J-Boogie, Sabbo and many more.

VIEUX'S SECOND ALBUM 'FONDO' (THE ROAD) IS OUT NOW. CHECK ABOVE FOR TOUR DATES AND RELATED NEWS



★★★★ - Observer Music Monthly, UK
"...remains true to his national heritage while staking out new ground, he manages to appeal to traditionalists and fusion fans alike with an opus that helps him step out of his father's shadow. We're going to hear a lot more from him."

★★★★ - Daily Telegraph, UK
"...Full of African Teen Spirit."

★★★★ - Uncut Magazine, UK
"...there's a sense of adventure that thrillingly liberates Fondo from the heritage in which it was forged."

★★★★ - The Times, UK
"...announces the arrival of a feisty new Africa guitar hero... consistently excellent."

★★★★ - Guardian, UK
"Ali Farka Touré never wanted his son to be a musician, but he would have been proud to hear this."

★★★★ - Independent, UK
"The dominant modes here are deep, soulful desert blues..."

★★★★ - Metro, UK
"...more than ever, Vieux Farka Touré emerges as an international artist forging his own way in the world..."

★★★★ - Mojo Magazine, UK
"...an essential soundtrack to modern, urban Africa."

★★★★ - Jazzwise, UK
"Toumani Diabate convinced a resistant Ali Farka Touré to allow Vieux to pursue a musical career... and on the strength of 'Fondo', it's just as well."

★★★★ - Boston Phoenix, US
"Touré is an unapologetically modern African artist... a guitarist to be reckoned with... never does 'Fondo' feel as if anyone but Vieux is calling the shots."

★★★★ - Financial Times, UK
"The music stretches from traditional Timbuktu melody to cavernous reggae..."

★★★ - Daily Express, UK
"Impressively, the tracks have an organic feel and don't suffer from the generic box-ticking of much world music."

"The second album by the Malian singer and guitarist distinguishes itself right away. 'Fondo' is wiser and more cutting, it has more personality and exponentially stronger guitar playing"
- The New York Times, US

"A dazzling piece of work."
- The Observer, UK

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Having a famous dad can be more of a curse than a blessing. For every Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart who overtook his father in the family business, there are thousands of sons who follow their dads with little success. (Franz Xaver Mozart, anyone?) But Vieux Farka Touré, the son of the great Malian guitarist and Grammy award winner Ali Farka Touré, has already stepped out from his late father’s shadow. Ali Farka Touré proved – in case anyone ever doubted it – that the soul of the blues could be found in West Africa. His son Vieux is turning heads with a more radical idea: that those Western Saharan roots can be heard in everything from the Indie Rock scene to Jamaican dub.

Fondo, Vieux’s newest effort (and his first one with the Six Degrees label), is more than a stirring mix of traditional instruments and modern production. More than a world music artist embracing the sounds of rock, it is the sound of a young man coming into his own. His self-titled debut, released in 2006, seemed to be the passing of a torch, as it included the last recordings by his legendary father, and a healthy dose of traditional Malian songs from his father’s repertoire. But his new album has only one traditional song; everything else was written by Vieux himself. The album’s opening salvo, “Fafa,” has a bluesy rhythm and intricate guitar solos that may recall Eric Clapton’s glory days with Cream.

In fact, Fondo showcases Vieux’s guitar playing in several different musical settings. He has mastered the short, stinging phrases of his father, but he reels off some extended guitar jams as well. The song “Mali” is a tribute to the Farka Touré homeland, elegant and restrained but joyful as well, with Vieux’s guitar soaring over a catchy, repeating riff. The funky, syncopated “Ai Haira” suggests a highly caffeinated version of reggae, with its talking drum solo and jammy guitar. And “Sarama,” despite using acoustic percussion, has more than a hint of drum’n’bass; the song also pairs a fast, hypnotic bass line in the style of Moroccan Gnawa music with classic call-and-response vocals, all driven by a gradual build-up of heavy rock drumming. Not bad for a 5-minute song.

Vieux’s arrangement of the traditional song “Wale” is the album’s clearest tribute to the ancient musical heritage of his country and his family. Vocals by the great Afel Bocoum, who sang and played guitar with Ali Farka Touré for several decades, provide a direct link to the previous generation. The electric bass, on the other hand, reminds us that this is a younger generation at work. Elsewhere, those loping desert rhythms blend beautifully with the sounds of Delta blues. On “Souba Souba,” it’s co-producer Yossi Fine (David Bowie, Hassan Hakmoun, ODB) whose electric bass provides that rhythm while Vieux offers simple, direct guitar solos between the sung lines – no drums or percussion needed here. And on the aptly named “Slow Jam,” one of the album’s two instrumentals, Vieux revels in the similarities between a slow blues and the traditional rhythms of the Western Sahara.

If you want to get a quick view of the musical terrain that Vieux Farka Touré has staked for himself, all you have to do is check out the remarkable sequence towards the end of Fondo. “Diaraby Magni” brings the African Diaspora from both sides of the Atlantic together, with a reggae rhythm, syncopated guitar, heavily reverbed percussion and vocals, and Yossi Fine’s spacey, dub production. “Cherie Le” is an up-tempo affair (Mali’s rhythms usually take their time – not here, though) with a more urban, Western sound. And on “Paradise,” Toumani Diabate – the world’s greatest living player of the kora, Mali’s ancient troubadour harp – joins Vieux on a guitar/kora duet that recalls the haunting album that Diabate did with Vieux’s father just a year before Ali Farka Touré’s death.

Vieux Farka Touré’s career in music would never have happened, if his illustrious parent had his way. Ali felt that the music business was a harsh place to work. But young Vieux found a mentor in Toumani Diabate, and his own guitar skills eventually convinced the elder Farka Touré that a second generation of family musicians was inevitable. This is music from a contemporary Africa – urban, sophisticated, globally connected but deeply proud of its ancient heritage. This is the old/new Africa that Vieux represents. Fondo is the music of an Africa that rocks, and yet still hears the camel’s tread in the sand.



VIEUX FARKA TOURÉ "FIGHT MALARIA" CAMPAIGN

Ten percent of proceeds from the debut album will go towards Bée Sago to fight against malaria in Niafunke, the home region of the Farka Touré family in Northern Mali. Bée Sago, a local award-winning organization affiliated with UNICEF, specializes in the manufacture and distribution of insecticide-treated mosquito nets to children and pregnant mothers in Mali.

Vieux Farka Touré was produced by Modiba Productions. MODIBA is a music production company and record label committed to the social and economic empowerment of Africa and its Diaspora. They are the creators of ASAP: the Afrobeat Sudan Aid Project, which has raised over $130,000 for the refugees of the crisis in Darfur, Sudan.